When you are a child, you generally fantasize with an adult life of yours. You will pretend to be a receptionist and answer the plastic toy phone or even wear your mum´s high-heeled shoes and her make-up to think of yourself as a top model. Where does all that imagination go when we actually become grown-ups?
How come teachers find it so hard to place themselves in their students´shoes? It isn´t so difficult if they just tried to take into account the audience of their classes and had a little bit of interest in taking the trouble to get to know them. Teenagers are already undergoing too many psychological and physical changes for teachers not to consider each student as what they are: different and unique human beings.
As far as I´m concerned teenagers feel at a loss in many things and they sometimes hide it behing the mask of rebellion. Wouldn´t it be worthwhile to take them seriously and make an effort to understand what they expect from us?
By Miriam Rodríguez
Chapter 7
How come teachers find it so hard to place themselves in their students´shoes? It isn´t so difficult if they just tried to take into account the audience of their classes and had a little bit of interest in taking the trouble to get to know them. Teenagers are already undergoing too many psychological and physical changes for teachers not to consider each student as what they are: different and unique human beings.
As far as I´m concerned teenagers feel at a loss in many things and they sometimes hide it behing the mask of rebellion. Wouldn´t it be worthwhile to take them seriously and make an effort to understand what they expect from us?
By Miriam Rodríguez
Chapter 7
4 comments:
Hi Mir...
I love your post!
I've always wondered what happened with people's wishes. Because we tend to forget many of them and we got interested in other things. And then we are adults, and we seem to have no more dreams.
That is what I love about teens. And they think they can reach their dreams, they just need a bit of help from adults.
I think teens are misunderstand all the time. maybe because they still have the capacity of dream...
See you,
Pame
I think adults still have the capacity to dream, but most of them give up their dreams. I wonder why?
Miriam
The main difference between playing somebody's role as a child and developing empathy later on in life, Miriam, would like that in our early years we imagine people are the way we want them to be, whereas later we must accept that's not the way life goes! :-P
Nevertheless, I agree with you in the fact that the ability to place ourselves in our learner's shoes is crucial to all teachers. What is more, since this is a value most of us want to foster among our learners, we need to first develop it ourselves, right?
Big hug,
Gladys
Definitely. We must show them the way. If we are not committed to our profession, for instance, how can we expect them to be?
Miriam
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